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Old 11-09-2009, 01:22 PM
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Observations 10/9/09 AWESOME Jupiter viewing

Last night was the first clear night in Melbourne in 186,338 years and 94 days. After being ugly overcast all day, the clouds cleared by sunset. Isn't that pip!

Time: 8:30pm-2:45am
scope: 12" F4.6 dob
Seeing: 7/10 at the start, degrading to 2/10 after 1am
transparency: 2/5 at the start, improving to 4/5.
Dew: light


So I Left the 12" dob out to cool for a couple of hours while I went inside to watch Home and Away, oh I mean Family Guy, eat pizza and get high........







....on the anticipation of the night ahead

Spirits were good, Family Guy was exceptionally funny as usual, the night was clear, moonrise was not for a few hours. Good times, gooood times.

Jupiter
Started the session at 8:30pm with the 8mm EP for 176x....Immediately I knew I was going to get good viewing! Seeing was the best I've seen in a LONG time. I was stunned by the amount of detail, for the first time ever I could see the festoons in the EQ zone without straining, they were actually obvious, and yes, a pale bluish colour.

I popped in the 5mm LVW, which yields 283x in my scope. Wow it was actually crisp! Normally I can't venture beyond 200x on Jupiter here, but tonight was cracking! THe amount of hair-thin blue festoons in the EQ zone was mind boggling like dude I was tripping balls man It was like spaghetti strewn across the planet. Never seen these features so clear and sharp before. A couple of white ovals were present on the northern edge of the SEB.

A massive, dark brown barge was seen in the NNTeB stretching about 1/4 across the disk with another similar curdled feature in the NEB. Very clear ruffling was present in both the NEB and SEB and parts of the NEB appeared to be split in two by a rift. A couple of brown ovals were seen on the northern border of the NEB.

Also experimented with higher magnifications, got one moment of crisp viewing at 326x, but it was fleeting but to get a crisp view at 326x was fantastic. That being said, 283x was the practical limit. And even with all this, seeing was still not perfect as when I defocused the planet slightly, you could see the air screaming across it and giving a slight roiling boiling effect.

Caught two simulatanious shadow transits aswell, that was quite a treat. Observed the shadow of what I think was Ganymede creep over the limb seemingly taking a "bite" out of Jupiter.

This level of seeing only lasted about half and hour, as the night wore on seeing deteriorated rapidly. Still, this was quite possbily the best Jupiter viewing I've ever had!

Had a few PNs and Galaxies on my list but seeing as I was staring at Jupiter for nearly 1 of the 4 hours available before moonrise, quite a few objects had escaped me.

LSA 1

A PNe in southern Aquila. Could not see it for sure without an OIII filter at any magnification. Hinted at using the 5mm EP for 283x with the OIII, but it was easiest to grasp at 404x using the filter. Still, it was nothing more than a small, extremely faint dust kitty with no discernable structure. DSS images show a tiny elongated donut.

NGC 6818
This is a large, very bright PNe in Sagittarius. Clearly non stellar at 44x and bluish in colour. At 283x it appeared slightly egg-shaped with long axis orientated N-S, with just a hint of annularity, although this wasn't obvious enough for conformation. Using the 3.5mm eyepiece at 404x without filtration this suspected annularity became slightly more obvious, but it was still very vague although certain. The annular feature wasn't a perfect ring, but more a horseshoe shape with the open end pointing north. Checking various images of 6818 on the net confirmed what I saw.

NGC 7424
This is a large spiral galaxy in Grus. Being large and face-on, SB is very low. At 176x I could only make out the faint knot of its core and basically nothing else.

IC 5148
The "Spare Tyre" @ 271x + OIII - see attached sketc

NGC 7009
Saturn Nebula @ 566x + OIII - see attached sketch

NGC 253
By now it was 12.30am and the moon was starting to peak over the horizon so I figured I'll see what the 12" can do on this. Being so large, one is inclined to limit power, but I decided to to pour some fuel on the fire. And what a smart idea it was. Using 283x and 404x, I could see the core, that little knot of light that characterises images, and low-contrast dustlanes strewn all over the galaxy. The most obvious was one bordering the core on its eastern edge. Lots of faint mottling could be seen, and a large bright patch (a starcloud or HII region?) toward the SW edge of the GX, directly W of mag 9.2 HD4555.

NGC 288
Globular near NGC 253. By now the moon was well above the horizon. Fairly large, but quite faint. At 283x several cluster members appeared to be arranged in a triangle with the long end pointing E and with the tip bent southward. The brightest stars also seemed to be arranged in two rows, one at the bottom and one halfway up the triangle, like rungs on a ladder. The densest concentration of stars and associated background haze is located between the two rungs.

NGC 1261

Finding this globular cluster was quite hard in that desert known as Horologium. But it is a rather pretty object, showing obvious resolution in its outer reaches at 176x. The core is nice and condensed. A curious feature was an elongated clump of haze on the southern edge of the cluster seperated from the main body by a narrow dark void. Increasing mag to 283x revealed slightly more resolution slightly closer to the core, but seeing was very poor by now.
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (ngc5148.jpg)
73.9 KB43 views
Click for full-size image (ngc7009.jpg)
74.3 KB41 views

Last edited by pgc hunter; 11-09-2009 at 01:32 PM.
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  #2  
Old 11-09-2009, 01:44 PM
Rob_K
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Nice report pgc hunter, your descriptions of Jupiter had me salivating!

If you get another go tonight, have a look for supernova 2009ig in NGC 1015. Supposed to have brightened to mag 13 (brightest for year so far) & well within your range. 22" from centre of galaxy. Get it towards midnight as it rises higher in the east.

http://www.astrosurf.com/snaude/im_2...0909100217.JPG

Cheers -
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Old 12-09-2009, 06:52 AM
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Thanks Rob. I was indeed salivating at the eyepiece! Not sure when/if I'll get a view like this again, but my hopes are high for next Tuesday

I'm just regretting not making a sketch! Oh and the shadow of Ganymede was HUGE at these magnifications! It was more like a coin than a full stop.

Last edited by pgc hunter; 12-09-2009 at 08:24 AM.
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Old 12-09-2009, 12:53 PM
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Hi PGC & All,

An excellent report and I particularly enjoyed the sketches. The one of the Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009) is exactly how I remember it looking in my 31cm at x363. It is a really beautiful object and stands high power well.

Good observation of NGC 6818 too. Here is an observation I made of it from home back in 1996 with 25cm. It was a night of average to poor seeing (5) and I rated the transparency at 6 (so mag 5.1 stars would have been visible) and I've recorded the temprature as 1 deg C at about 1am -- that's about as cold as it ever gets here in sunny Engadine:

x138 21' TF x181 15' TF mag 9.2 size 22" UHC Bright blue. Intense colour. Fairly evenly illuminated with hints of a darker centre. Not a well populated field for a a Milky Way constellation. 2 mag 9*s on E edge of the field. mag 13 *s nr the nebula. 30" W one and the other SE another W Hard edged. Est size 20-25".

Well done in picking up NGC 7424 from suburbia it is a very LSB object as you note. Here is my note of an observation made at Mudgee 9 years ago with 31cm. I rated the transparency that night as 9 -- an exceptionally good night indicating that mag 6.6 stars were visible:

x186 26' Tf. Mag 10.5 Size 9'. A very, very LSB eg found between a couple of mag 11 *s SW-NE sep by 15'. Big 6' - 7' halo which is roughly round. Very LSB halo with diffuse ill defined edges. Grows in brightness weakly to the centre with a small 30" circular core nucleus. Quite nice!

So I'm not really surprised you only saw core. I should have a go at this one with the larger aperture -- I think this just might show some indications of spiral structure with more light.

I also enjoyed your description of Jupiter -- particularly of the detail in the Ez festoon structures. Over the last few years I think there have been a smaller number of really big, obvious festoons in the Ez on Jupiter, but a larger number of these finer filamentary ones that only cooperate when the seeing is really good. Not that the number of blue features on the S edge of the NEB or the N edge of the SEB has diminished -- I don't think it has. In fact the N edge of the SEB seems to have more bluish features than I've seen in quite a while.

I was watching Jupiter (with the public) that night too at Sydney Observatory using the Meade 40cm LX200 and the 29cm f/15 refractor. The seeing was good but nothing to get carried away about. It is rarely good in the domes -- they suffer from bad seeing due to both poor design of the building and the fact that you've got 20 people standing around the 'scope with you. The double shadow transit was really nice to see.

Also very good and highly detailed observations of NGC 288 and NGC 1261 well done. Thanks very much for taking the time to post them.


Best,

Les D
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Old 12-09-2009, 01:03 PM
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Great report pgc Hunter. The sky down your way must be a lot better than here.
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Old 13-09-2009, 12:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ngcles View Post
Hi PGC & All,

An excellent report and I particularly enjoyed the sketches. The one of the Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009) is exactly how I remember it looking in my 31cm at x363. It is a really beautiful object and stands high power well.

Good observation of NGC 6818 too. Here is an observation I made of it from home back in 1996 with 25cm. It was a night of average to poor seeing (5) and I rated the transparency at 6 (so mag 5.1 stars would have been visible) and I've recorded the temprature as 1 deg C at about 1am -- that's about as cold as it ever gets here in sunny Engadine:

x138 21' TF x181 15' TF mag 9.2 size 22" UHC Bright blue. Intense colour. Fairly evenly illuminated with hints of a darker centre. Not a well populated field for a a Milky Way constellation. 2 mag 9*s on E edge of the field. mag 13 *s nr the nebula. 30" W one and the other SE another W Hard edged. Est size 20-25".
Hi Les, thanks for replying and noting your own observations, it's good to see others' take on my observed objects

Yep NGC 7009 is one of teh best PNe in the sky. My personal favourite though is the Ghost of Jupiter, unbeatable for colour and detail. NGC 6818 would have to be one of the best PN's for high power viewing, its incredibly bright and compact.


Quote:
Well done in picking up NGC 7424 from suburbia it is a very LSB object as you note. Here is my note of an observation made at Mudgee 9 years ago with 31cm. I rated the transparency that night as 9 -- an exceptionally good night indicating that mag 6.6 stars were visible:

x186 26' Tf. Mag 10.5 Size 9'. A very, very LSB eg found between a couple of mag 11 *s SW-NE sep by 15'. Big 6' - 7' halo which is roughly round. Very LSB halo with diffuse ill defined edges. Grows in brightness weakly to the centre with a small 30" circular core nucleus. Quite nice!

So I'm not really surprised you only saw core. I should have a go at this one with the larger aperture -- I think this just might show some indications of spiral structure with more light.

I also enjoyed your description of Jupiter -- particularly of the detail in the Ez festoon structures. Over the last few years I think there have been a smaller number of really big, obvious festoons in the Ez on Jupiter, but a larger number of these finer filamentary ones that only cooperate when the seeing is really good. Not that the number of blue features on the S edge of the NEB or the N edge of the SEB has diminished -- I don't think it has. In fact the N edge of the SEB seems to have more bluish features than I've seen in quite a while.

I was watching Jupiter (with the public) that night too at Sydney Observatory using the Meade 40cm LX200 and the 29cm f/15 refractor. The seeing was good but nothing to get carried away about. It is rarely good in the domes -- they suffer from bad seeing due to both poor design of the building and the fact that you've got 20 people standing around the 'scope with you. The double shadow transit was really nice to see.

Also very good and highly detailed observations of NGC 288 and NGC 1261 well done. Thanks very much for taking the time to post them.


Best,

Les D
1261 is a nice cluster, I was a bit surprised. I guess after 7 years of using a 4.5" newtonian, I'm not used to them appearing anything more than dust kitties
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Old 14-09-2009, 02:58 PM
beefking (Nathan)
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thanks for the report. 7009 is on my list for the next night out.

there must have been a stable air mass travelling up the country because we had jaw dropping views of jupiter around 11pm on saturday (12th). an incredible amount of detail, and the image was rock solid. I don't normally take my scope past 166x, and views at 250x are usually a bit too blobby, but I could have pushed it a lot further. my collimation was pretty good as well, which helped no end.
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